Diabetic Screening Programme

One of the longest running programmes in Thurles Lions Club is the Diabetes Screening programme which takes place every year in the Friary Pharmacy at Thurles Shopping Centre.

Along with a staff of fully qualified nurses, the Thurles Lions organise free screenings in Friary Pharmacy at Thurles Shopping Centre.  A simple prick of the finger can indicate if a person has high blood sugar levels, and if they do these people are referred to their GP for further testing. Typically between 800 and 1,000 people are screened in one day and there can be no doubt that these programmes have improved the health and wellbeing of many people in and around the Thurles area and beyond.  All costs associated with the screening are borne by Thurles Lions Club.

So how did the Lions Club get involved? In 1925, Helen Keller the famous blind American author, political activist, and lecturer challenged Lions International to become ‘Knights for the Blind’ and since that time the Lions Movement has taken a prominent role in vision and sight related projects.  People with diabetes are at risk of losing their sight due to diabetic retinopathy and so Lions International promote preventative measures such as diabetic testing.

Our diabetes screening is always well publicised so make sure you keep an eye on our website for details of when it’s taking place.

Diabetes in Ireland

• In Ireland, 200,000 people have been diagnosed as having Diabetes with a further 200,000 undiagnosed.
• In addition an estimated 250,000 Irish people have impaired glucose tolerance or ‘Pre-Diabetes.’ Of these 50% or 125,000 will develop diabetes in the next five years unless they change their lifestyle.

For more information on Diabetes see http://www.diabetes.ie/